DOCUWEEKS!!! Are we really qualifying for an Oscar???

Pinch me! I am so excited to tell you that SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS was accepted as 1 of 18 feature films by the International Documentary Association for its annual DOCUWEEKS Theatrical Showcase. By participating in DOCUWEEKS, our film will qualify for the Oscars!!!! press release

There have been so many details that I don't know where to start. We had a major snafu with our post house in NYC. First, they were too busy to help me convert my project to an HDCAM so I had to hunt for an AVID in Arizona. Turns out that no one in Phoenix had the right kind of editing machine that was compatible to what we used in NYC. So I had to find a post facility in Los Angeles. When the project was finally opened, it was apparent that my NYC post house didn't even copy all the files properly!!! .....so in the end I had to rebuild our project. Can you believe it???? I knew I had to redo the sound to make SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS acceptable to Academy standards, but I didn't anticipate having to re-cut the sound simply because original files were missing on the hard drive. It was a nightmare last week, running from Phoenix to LA but thank goodness LA post houses are open 24 hours and there are so many of them in LA that they were also very competitively priced. It all turned out well in the end and we are preparing the DCP process this coming week. (I've no idea what DCP exactly is or does to the picture, but the Academy requires it so it's getting done.) I'm omitting a 1000 details on the 24 hour/7 day process to get this done because I will bore you to tears and I'm wiped out from dealing with it myself. Thinking about it again makes me want to grab another beer. Anyone have an aspirin for this big headache of mine? :)

So what's next? The hard work is done and the IDA will now do their magic and screen SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS in both Los Angeles and New York City. After that I have forms to fill with the Academy and DVD screeners to send by September 1. There will be press and publicity details also. If you are in Los Angeles between July 31 and August 6, or in New York between August 7-13, come see SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS on the big screen!!! It's a great popcorn movie!

Here are the show times and theater details for SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS at DocuWeeks:

LOS ANGELES, July 31 - August 6:

ArcLight Hollywood
6360 W Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA
Show times:

Fri 31-Jul 12:00 PM 5:40 PM
Sat 1-Aug 2:00 PM 7:50 PM
Sun 2-Aug 3:55 PM 9:45 PM
Mon 3-Aug 12:00 PM 5:40 PM
Tue 4-Aug 2:00 PM 7:50 PM
Wed 5-Aug 3:55 PM 9:45 PM
Thu 6-Aug 3:55 PM 9:45 PM

NEW YORK CITY, August 7-13:

IFC Center
323 Sixth Avenue at West Third Street, New York NY
Show times:

Fri 7-Aug 2:55 PM 9:50 PM
Sat 8-Aug 12:00 PM 4:30 PM
Sun 9-Aug 1:30 PM 6:10 PM
Mon 10-Aug 2:55 PM 7:55 PM
Tue 11-Aug 12:00 PM 4:30 PM
Wed 12-Aug 1:30 PM 6:10 PM
Thu 13-Aug 2:55 PM 7:55 PM

Hope to see you at the movies!

Lee